Defying the Inevitable
by Aishanirocks
Summary: What if the Bennets adopted both Claire & Peter when they were babies? Will things happen the same way it did during Homecoming? Burdened with a power and responsibility no teenager should have to shoulder, Peter struggles to save his little sister from being murdered by a super-powered serial killer with no help but his power of precognition.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **Please, note that English is not my first language. Any grammar or spelling errors are mine and mine alone. I'm from India, so my knowledge of the USA is second-hand mostly from Wikipedia, I try to research all my fics the best that I can, if I get anything wrong along the way, once again, it's fully my responsibility.

Heroes and all the characters belong to NBC, Tim Kring and all that people from Hollywood.

**Author's notes (Aug 15th, 2013): **I wrote this fic four years ago when I was thirteen so I had to do some serious revamping on it. This is not** a **Paire fic, Peter and Claire are brother and sister for the most part of this story and eventually it will develop to be a Peter\Caitlin and Claire\West story. So, I'm sorry for the Paire shippers. And it's not because I have anything against Incest or anything. I mean I'm from India, cousin marriages are practically still in vogue here.

* * *

**Defying the Inevitable**

Deveaux building

New York, Year 1992

Angela ruffled her hand over the little baby's black hair as she held him in her arms and kissed the top of his head. How long had she been waiting for the birth of this child. She'd seen him living the most important moments of his life in her visions even before he was born. It had come as a surprise to most people she knew when she became pregnant, over twenty years after giving birth to her first son. The late autumn sun spread its last rays over the roof top of Deveaux building as she listened to the conversation between her close friend Kaito Nakamura and company agent, Noah Bennet. They'd chosen him very carefully for this particular task. Under the rugged, cold blooded, Company Agent layers, Mr. Bennet was a family man who cared about his young wife a lot. He'll look after baby Claire like she's his flesh and blood, she heard him promise. And she'd researched the man enough to know that promise will be well kept. Angela tightened her arms around her infant son as she waited for them to finish their exchange to make her presence known.

" – But Mr. Bennet, she must be returned to us if, and when her powers manifest . Do you understand what it means? Do not get too much emotionally attached to her." Noah Bennet gave a reluctant nod, his eyes fixed on the little pink bundle which he now carried on his arms.

"Mr. Bennet, I have one more favor to ask you." Angela said opening the door of the small green house and stepping into the open roof top. Kaito seemed surprised see her here with them. She'd withdrawn herself from company business since Peter was born. She no longer wanted any part of the company she herself started with a bunch of her friends.

"Angela, what are you doing here?" Kaito asked with a startled expression on his handsome face. Mr. Bennet too gave her a curious look. She smiled at him in return. Her heart warmed when baby Claire's tiny arm raised to trace it over Noah's shirt. It seemed as if they'd formed a strong bond already with each other.

"The same reason as you Kaito." She turned to look at Noah Bennet with that. "Mr. Bennet, we've already burdened you with a huge responsibility. So I'm sorry to ask you to do this. This is not an order, so you can always refuse." She said making it known that she'd been eavesdropping on their previous conversation.

She stared at her son for a long moment before saying anything. Her two years old son's eyes were wide open, fixed on his mother's face. A tiny crease of concentration formed between his eyebrows.

Oh, she had such hope those eyes would stay hazel, like Arthur's. The baby's hair was midnight black like her own. Dark and straight, but his skin was dusky gold-again like his Dad's rather than the lighter tone of his ma's.

"I—I want you to take my son, Mr. Bennet. I want you to raise him as your own, alongside Claire."

"Angela— we talked about this." Kaito snapped in. But she ignored him completely as she continued her conversation with her son's future adoptive father.

"You and your wife have been trying to conceive for years, and you might never have more children. If you accept this, you and your wife will get a son and Claire will have at least one blood relative in the family with her."

Silence stretched between them like a worm hole as they continued to stare at each other. Angela decided to give the poor man sometime to think and tickled the baby girl's toes and had Claire gurgling.

"Am I going to lose him too one day when his powers manifest?"

"It's highly unlikely, Mr. Bennet. René and Maury Parkman have already taken care of that. Nobody will remember me having a second child who could be alive somewhere. I can't do the same with Claire because company already has her file."

Noah stared at the babies for while before nodding his head. He spoke with more calm than he had but still a sense of urgency in his voice, "Would you mind telling me exactly why you're doing this?"

"I've seen the future Mr. Bennet. And I'd be damned if I let the company or my husband corrupt him. Be patient with him Noah, he's going to be a great man, a hero, once his power manifest." Now it was Noah Bennet's turn to breathe in heavily.

"You mean he's going to have a power like your husband's?"

"Now you understand why I need your help? I want him to use his powers for good, Mr. Bennet. Not to fulfill the company's selfish deeds."

…..

After Mr. and Mrs. Bennet left the building with a newly adopted baby girl and a boy, Angela broke into loud tears leaning on Kaito's shoulder. If things went as planned, she might never see her little dark haired miracle again.

"René wiped my husband's and Nathan's minds. They'll only remember that I gave birth to a stillborn child two years ago." Angela murmured between her sobs.

"You did the right thing by letting him go, Angela. I see that now."

She was weeping now, huge choking sobs. Tears stung the back of her throat because she knew Kaito was right. It was the right thing to do. But will it be enough?"

*.*.*.*.*.*

Bennet House

Odessa, Texas, 2007

Two Weeks before Homecoming.

The alarm clock went off at 6:30 a.m., but I had been awake for an hour, getting ready for another day in my weird, freak-show of a life. I wish I was one of those guys who roll out of bed, throw on a shirt and are ready to go, but sadly, my life isn't that normal. For instance, today I woke up with another dream of me falling over the school roof top tangled with some other guy. Then the same guy standing in girls' locker room (just a guess, never seen the inside of it) laughing like a mad man with his hands soaked with someone else's blood. A blonde girl in red and white cheerio uniform lying on the floor. She was unrecognizable in the dream only a silhouette in the dark. A second before I woke up, I saw a long white banner with Homecoming written over it in blue with blood sprayed all over it. I've been seeing this same dream for three weeks now. And tried to deal with it by getting a tattoo on my arm. Originally, I'd gotten a lip ring and, my ears pierced with metal studs too, but Dad had thrown an earth-shaking fit when I came home like that, and the Tattoo was the only things I'd been allowed to keep.

Sighing, I spared a quick glance at myself in the mirror, making sure I looked as unapproachable as possible. Sometimes, I catch Mom looking at me sadly, as if she wonders where her little boy went. I used to be the fire-eater of the family. I had the perfect attendance record, straight "A"s and good at any sport I paid any interest in. I used to have short straight black hair until I started growing it until it fell over my eyes in thick bangs. I used to have the same popular status at school like my sister. I never used to be "brooding" and "hostile" and "rude." I used to smile more, and laugh. I rarely do any of that now. It all happened after I started having nightmares which most of the time came true. Most of those nightmares showed people dying, cities burning and once I saw New York City exploding with a huge mushroom cloud of smoke like a nuke explosion.

Tell me _that's _not messed up.

Of course, I can't ever tell anyone. To normal people, precognition went with the same line as soothsaying. Or the stuff of Sci-Fi movies. My parents worry, of course, Mom especially. People already think I'm weird, dangerous, and maybe a little crazy.

Seeing nightmares that comes true in most horrific ways will do that to you.

Mom dragged me to see a doctor few times saying I didn't look like I'm seeping well at night. Dreams stopped for couple weeks and when I stopped taking pills, it came back, twice as violent and realistic. So I decided to withdraw myself from the others and accept myself for the freak I am.

I know Mom worries about me. Dad says it's normal teenage rebellion, that I'm going through a "phase," and that I'll grow out of it. My dad had more insight towards everything for a guy who worked at a paper company. But sorry, Dad. My life is far from normal. And I'm dealing with it the only way I know how.

"Peter?" Mom's voice drifted into the room from beyond the door, soft and urgent. "It's past six thirty. Are you up sweetie?"

"I'm up." I grabbed my backpack and wung it over my dark blue T-shirt and black leather jacket. Another small quirk my parents have gotten used to. Most people at school had me labeled as a 'Goth Kid' though I didn't hang out with Union Wells High School's usual Goth clique and absolutely hated none masculine things like black lipstick or nail polish.

"I'll be right out."

Grabbing my keys, I left my room with that familiar sense of resignation and dread stealing over me. _Okay, then. Let's get this day over with._

I have a weird family.

You'd never know it by looking at us.

We seem perfectly normal; a nice upper middle class American family living in a nice suburban neighborhood, with nice clean streets and nice neighbors on either side. Happy family of five with three kids. Mother raises show dogs and father works at a Paper company as a manager.

He wondered if he was the only one who notice this, but why did they seem to have more money than they should? Why did his dad seem to go on business trips more often than a normal person change clothes? Why would he never, answer a phone call from somebody at work in front of them? And who paid for the shiny new sports car I got as my sixteenth birthday present?

Yeah, I told you, my family is weird.

And that's not even the worst of it.

Somewhere out there, I have another set of parents. Because my mom and dad had adopted both me and my sister when we were babies. Lyle is the only biological child of my parents. He has honey blond hair like my mom; I mean my _adoptive_ mom, and dad's sapphire eyes. Claire's gifted with the looks of a Barbie Doll with straight sandy blonde hair and bright green eyes. I have coal black hair with hazel eyes and my skin had the olive complexion of a native of the Mediterranean region. So just by looking at a family photo any dimwit could tell that I'm the adopted one.

Mom was at the kitchen table when I came out, waiting for me. Dad wasn't around. He was on a business trip again. In New York, of all places. It scared me shitless but I hoped the nuclear explosion wouldn't happen so soon. I had more pressing matters to think about RIGHT NOW like the Homecoming which was only TWO WEEKS away.

"Oh, there you are sleepyhead," Mom greeted me as I tossed the backpack on the counter and opened the fridge, reaching for the orange juice.

"Can you take Lyle to the library after school Peter? I promised him I'll do it but I have to take Mr. Muggles to the vet for a checkup. "

I nodded. "Okay, but after that I'm coming straight home. Claire can make her pompous prick of a boyfriend to give her a ride after the party."

"You used to be best friends with Brody." Mom said with a pitying look on her face.

"That was when I was in kindergarten mom. And he's dating my baby sister so I'm doomed to hate him."

She hesitated. "Talking about your sister—where is she?" She said looking at her watch. She hurried towards the stairway holding her prize Pomeranian, Mr. Muggles, tightly in one arm. "Claire? Sweetie, you're getting late for school."

Lyle came jogging down the steppes and Claire came barreling behind like a bat out of hell. "You idiot, give it back."She yelled.

Lyle had a black video tape in his hands and tossed it almost carelessly towards me when Claire's hands reached for it. I grabbed it with the ease of a good baseball player before it hit the ground.

"Pete, don't give it to her." Lyle screamed.

I just tossed it on the kitchen counter and rose from my seat with the last piece of waffles in my hand. "Okay kids, I don't have time for this. Are you coming or not?"

Claire just gave me a death glare but she knew as dad was out of town the alternative would be taking the freaking bus to school.

Peter went out to the garage not waiting for his two younger siblings. Claire and Lyle quickly catch up to him. She had her duffle bag on her shoulder and she carried a big gorilla dummy clothed like a player of the opposing team.

I dropped Lyle first at middle school and drove Claire and myself to our high school.

Jackie and her Pom-Pom brigade greeted us (or just my sister) as we entered the school.

"Claire, just the person I was looking for." Jackie said with her fake grin.

"Why, you ran out of happy pills again. Sorry, mine evaporated the second I saw you." Claire said in her best sarcastic tone.

Jackie smirked like it was nothing and started playing dumb again. Usually I don't like getting in the middle of Claire's cat fights, but I've never seen this kind of enmity between these two before.

"I'm just here to give you a friendly advice. You'll never be the Homecoming Queen. People in this school all but worship me after I saved that poor man from fire." Claire's bright green eyes darkened few shades after hearing this. I had no idea why. I mean it sounded like a very noble thing to do, though Jackie didn't strike me as a girl who would rick her pretty face by jumping into a roaring fire so save some stranger.

"So, why don't you wrap your thing and leave the competition."

"Sounds like you're threatened by her, Jackie. Why do you want her out of the competition if you're so sure you'd win?" Jackie stared at me as if she had never seen me before.

"Looks like you need you big brother to fight your battles for you Claire, such a shame…." Jackie said with a pout. He Cheerio friends giggled.

"First of all, I'm not dropping out of this stupid popularity contest and secondly, I don't need my big brother to fight my battles, now if you please excuse me I have few stuff to do before school start." Claire stomped out of the hallway with that.

* * *

**Author's note: **Peter got the power of dream Precognition from his mom when he was a baby. I know in the TV show his power manifested in his twenties but I had to fix it suitable for this timeline. And even in the show Precog was his first power. He didn't have be close to his mom in his teen years to get it because it just came to him from his memories the same way Claire saved herself from the fire with regeneration but completely lost it until her puberty.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: **Please, note that English is not my first language. Any grammar or spelling errors are mine and mine alone. I'm from India, so my knowledge of the USA is second-hand mostly from Wikipedia, I try to research all my fics the best that I can, if I get anything wrong along the way, once again, it's fully my responsibility.

Heroes and all the characters belong to NBC, Tim Kring and all that people from Hollywood.

**Author's notes (Aug 15th, 2013): **I wrote this fic four years ago when I was thirteen so I had to do some serious revamping on it. This is not** a **Paire fic, Peter and Claire are brother and sister for the most part of this story and eventually it will develop to be a Peter\Caitlin and Claire\West story. So, I'm sorry for the Paire shippers. And it's not because I have anything against Incest or anything. I mean I'm from India, cousin marriages are practically still in vogue here.

*.*.*.*.*.*

'Union Wells' High School.

Odessa, Texas

My schedule for Friday wasn't too bad:

1st period Physics

2nd period English

Break

3rd period Lunch

4th period Math (each day)

5th period Gym (each day)

To be fair I thought today would be better than it started in the morning but the universe does like to prove me wrong. I ran into the crowded hallway after English trying to forget the most humiliating incident of my life. The dream came out of nowhere. I didn't even know I had fallen sleep on my desk until I woke up, screaming like a strangled woman. Mrs. Henderson gave me detention for the entire week but that's not the worst of it. I now knew the identity of the girl who's going to be murdered. My sister, my poor sister who's head over heels in love with the quarterback with her head in the clouds. She's even hoping to become the homecoming queen. A chilly breeze swept through my spine each and every time I thought about this. How am I going to stop this from happening. My sister and I are no longer inseparable as we were when we were kids. We both had separate lives, separate futures and separate friends. She's not going to understand or agree if I asked her not to go to the homecoming.

"Activating Evolution? I didn't know you were interested in genetics." I angled my head when Maddy glanced up at me. Our usual lunch table was empty except two more wandering souls who appeared to be few years younger than us. Freshmen, maybe? It was just like Maddy to bring a book or two to the cafeteria during lunch. I swear, that girl would easily skip a couple meals if she had a very interesting read. Today, the huge hard cover book laid abandoned on the empty seat next to her on her backpack.

"Tell me you didn't spend too much money on that?" Maddy and her dad lived in a trailer park in the poorest part of the town. It was no secret. However Maddy had the richest heart of all the girls in this school.

"Nah," she said with a sigh. "I just borrowed it from Jerald, my lab partner. Didn't worth the trouble anyway, Evolved humans my ass. Time travel, super strength, telekinesis, if some people could actually do these things don't you think we would know? They'll win any talent show with a landslide of votes."

I totally knew why no one would want to come out with a secret like that. Some stockbrokers would kill their own mother for a chance to kidnap me. Or worst, I'd have to spend the rest of my life as a lab rat, hidden from the public eye in some off maps government secret lab facility.

"So, Peter—are you planning on going to the Homecoming dance?" Maddy muttered, not taking her eyes off her empty food tray.

Urhhh….this conversation again. "You know I hate monkey suits."

"Liar, you'd look good in a tux—I mean you have that European, born in an Armani aura under all that rough layers, and you'd—" She covered her mouth with her hand in horror, realizing she'd said too much.

"I knew you had a crush on me, Carvel." I said with a grin.

"I am not crushing on you!"

"You are!"

"Am not!'

"Are too!

"I FREAKING DON'T HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU!"

She yanked her bag making the book on it fall on the floor with a loud thud, and stormed out of the cafeteria followed by few curious the fun of watching her outburst wore off I felt really sick at myself. It wasn't Maddy's fault I was slowly turning in to a hermit. Swearing to myself that I'd make it up to her, I yanked the book she'd forgotten off the floor. Maybe I should read it. It was always a relief to know there are more freaks like me out there somewhere.

*.*.*.*.*.*

Burnt Toast Diner in Midland, TX

A week from Homecoming.

Sheriff Lloyd glared at the two Japanese men suspiciously from a far. The crime scene was still fresh, so he and Harris had to guard the entrance of the small kitchen to prevent any onlookers from entering until the backup arrived. He'd seen the way the Asian young man with glasses had openly flirt with poor Charley. He knew it didn't automatically make him a suspect. But in a small community like this, people tend to look at strangers suspiciously. The top half of poor Charley's head had been torn open. An almost surgical cut dome by an expert. He has never witnessed a brutal murder like this ever, during his twenty eight years long carrier life. What kind of a sadistic monster could do something like this to an innocent bright girl like Charley? What a terrible way to end the day. He thought as he made his way towards the two Asian men who were chatting with each other in rapid Japanese.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Bennet House

Odessa, Texas.

Six days from Homecoming.

I had a late start in the morning, maybe because the 'New York Bomb' dream paid me another visit last night. Today's a Saturday, so I could smell mom's cooking from my room. After taking a quick shower I stepped out of the bathroom and bumped straight onto my sister. I looked at Claire giving her a 'what the hell' look. But I had to stop my towel from falling off and make me utterly humiliated in front of my sister. And Claire, using my hesitation as a chance slid in to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her with a huge thud. Being moody and iterating in the morning was entirely my department. So it made me curious as to why she was acting like that. Then I saw the muddy footsteps smeared on the trail of water I had left behind on the floor. _What? _She'd been outside the whole night. I'm going to kill that stupid son-of a-bitch quarterback. I decided it was time to have a little man to man chat with our local quarterback in School on Monday, but before I made my way back to my room, I thought I heard muted sobs from inside the bathroom.

"Claire! Are you okay?" What a stupid question. She wouldn't be crying if she were.

"—just go away." She yelled. I shook my head lowering it knowing the outcome of this ordeal.

"Alright, just come to my room if you want to talk."With that I hurried towards my room while seeing everything in bright red. But I knew I wouldn't do anything physical to Brody. Contrary to the popular belief, I wasn't a violent person. My unapproachable exterior was just a cover to keep people away from myself so l wouldn't have to worry about seeing my loved ones dying heinous deaths.

I was in denial when it first happened few years ago and credited my frighteningly realistic dreams in to the crazy teenage hormones account. Grandpa Bennet was the one who paid the price for my ignorance. The accident completely paralyzed his lower body restricting him to a bed in Littlerock nursing home for a year before he died. I'm not going to make that same mistake again. I'm not going to let her die like that. Most of the time Claire and I couldn't stand each other, but she's still my baby sister and I knew she'd do the same thing if my life was at stake.

By lunch time I was half way through Dr. Chandra Suresh's book about Evolved humans. What if I'm one of these people? What if there's a strictly biological reason for why I'm the way I am? I typed Dr. Suresh's name on the keypad of our family computer downstairs and Googled the man. And it felt like destiny to know he's currently living in New York.

"Lyle! Come help me carry these to my office room." Dad said opening the door with one hand while balancing a huge load of files on the other.

"Damnit! I'm playing 'Dark Warriors' dad." I heard Lyle cursing in the living room. He and his best buddy, Jake was playing some stupid Xbox game since morning.

"I don't care. Leave it for a second. And no swearing inside the house, mister." Dad said frowning at my brother who gave him a pleading glance in turn. I quickly flipped the Activating Evolution book open on the computer table to make it look like I'm doing some research for a school project.

'We are on level 49, and I have only one life left. Please let me finish this level Dad!" He pleaded.

I rolled my eyes jokingly before dialing the number mentioned on the back side of the book, in.

"Whatever." Dad muttered and after spearing a quick glance towards me, he carried his stuff to the office room alone.


	3. Chapter 3

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Bennet House, Claire's bedroom.

Odessa, Texas.

About six days before Homecoming.

**Claire's POV**

I tried so hard to consecrate on the latest Supernatural episode I was watching. Normally, I loved watching 'hotter- than – the sun' Winchester brothers kick ass and kill monsters. But today the show was just too bloody for me. And this was a lot coming from a girl who can re-grow her lungs.

_No it's not the show, it's you. You are one who's feeling lost and scared_.

The realistic part of my mind argued. I was yet to welcome my long delayed mental breakdown. I had to act like the normal and free spirited daughter in front of my parents during breakfast and lunch. It was so hard not to think about the 'horror movie cliffhanger' I had to endure this morning in front of my clueless family. Peter and Lyle nearly started a food fight because of something really stupid during lunch. I wish my life was as simple.

I knew someone would come looking for me as I was late for dinner. I didn't bother going downstairs as I knew I couldn't pretend to be normal anymore. To say I was surprised when it was Peter who came looking for me would be the understatement of the millennia.

His eyes roamed around the room as he came in, hinting how alien he was to this part of the Bennet kingdom. Of course, that maybe because I had given a fair warning to both of my brothers that I'd wipe out the every information of their virtual existence from the cyber space if they dared to trespass into my room without my permission.

"Are you okay?"

Me! Okay?

My boyfriend tried to rape me last night and he'd have accomplished his sinister target if he hadn't accidentally thrown me on a tree trunk. What happened after that is something only Brody and the god knows, but I stole the voice recorder from the coroner who'd done my autopsy. My eyes filled with hot unshed tears once again as I remembered what I head when I played the voice cut. In her clinical, unemotional and almost robotic voice, she said they'd found my body in a ditch about a mile away from our school. That sadistic bastard had dragged my 'dead body' through the ground a mile before getting rid of it. Thinking of that was nothing compared to what I experienced in the morning. I don't think, waking up on an autopsy table with her body cut open is nowhere in any teenage girl's 'things to do before twenty' list. So! No, Peter, I'm not okay right now and I'm not sure if I'm ever going to be again.

Dear god, I'm going to need years of therapy to get over the events of last night.

I could feel tears swell in my eyes, clouding my vision. I refused to let them fall and appear weak. Those instincts are being brought up again. Those instincts that have always helped me to change and become emotionless. Now my only purpose is to be stronger. It's been a long time since I had one of them. I can't remember the last time I had one of those types of panic attacks. It destroyed me inside. It was destroying me inside. I was fighting not to let it come out. And I'd be damned if I let myself look weak and helpless in front of Mr. Devil May Care himself.

He walked in to the room and sat on the bed at my side. His hand reached out to wipe a stray tear from my cheek. I tried to slap his hand away, acting again on my instincts. But Peter took my hand with his and yanked me in to a tight hug with his other hand.

"What happened to you? Where were you last night?" He pulled away from the embrace as he asked me this, his hands still tangled with mine.

My first thought was to lie. Tell him something entirely stupid and normal like 'it's just PMS' so he'd bolt from the room within seconds. But then I looked straight into his brownish hazel eyes and for the first time in my life I felt like I could trust someone, at least with a small portion of my bizarre story.

"At the party last night…it...Brody got really drunk. He tried to make me drink too much to, but I was sober when he asked me to come with him to a dark place behind the bleachers. I don't know what I was thinking but I left with him. First we were just kissing and then he—he tried to force himself on me." Peter's big brown eyes narrowed into slits.

"He did WHAT?" His gaze wandered on me like he was mentally assessing any injuries. I've never seen him so angry before. Not even when Zack accidentally broke my favorite doll and made me cry so hard when we were little kids.

"He wouldn't back off even when I told him I'm not ready yet, and then he went all psycho and tried to…. _rape_ _me_." The last two words were swallowed by a sob as my willpower betrayed me yet again.

"Did he—"

"NO, I ….ran away before had the chance do anything."I told him another half-truth. Yes, I actually tried to run. But he caught me and l fell on a fallen tree trunk. And do you want to know the most ridiculous part? That kind of accidents happens to people all the time. But this is me, Claire Bennet we are talking about. I died last night with a sharp tree branch staked through my brain.

* * *

**Peter's POV**

My vision hazed slightly with red. I'd never been so helplessly enraged before in my life. My muscles trembled in restrained anger. I averted my eyes from Claire as it hurt like an open wound to look at the broken mess my usually overconfident sister had become. I always knew that Brody Simpson had a cruel, ruthless bone in his body, and stopped being his friend since he forced me and the other kids in the junior baseball team, overly bully a couple of younger boys in the middle school. But this—

.How can a person do this to another human being, much less his own girl friend.

With my below average social skills, the best I could do was take her in to a tight embrace. She rested her head on my shoulder and broke into quiet but desperate sobs. After few minutes I pulled away from the embrace and asked the question I'd been holding back. My hands still on her shoulders. "Claire, did you tell anyone about this? Mom? Dad?"

She shook her head, proving my suspicions.

My hands slide off my shoulders. "I understand why you don't want something like this to be public knowledge, but what Brody did was just plain wrong and it's a crime, he could go to jail for this since he's over eighteen and you're only sixteen." I'll make sure he gets a dose of his own medicine before they drag him to a prison somewhere.

"No..I...don't think I can prove anything. I don't even have a scratch on me." When she looked at me, her green eyes were big as dinner plates and pleading. "Don't tell mom and dad, please Pete. Promise me you wouldn't tell anyone?"

I nodded my head though all I wanted to do was beat Brody into a bloody pulp and bury him in the deepest pit in hell.

After trying to console her for few more minutes I left her to sleep and returned to my own room. I couldn't stop thinking about the bizarre phone call I'd made in the afternoon. Apparently Dr. Chandra Suresh had been killed few months ago, while he was residing in New York. His son, who was a geneticist himself agreed to meet me and talk about my problems. But the guy lives in New York. Do I even have enough guts to cross hundred miles just to talk about my precognitive dreams with a guy I've never even met?

* * *

**I know this my shortest chapter ever. I'm soooo sorry. I have my OL exam in about two months and I hardly have enough to eat and sleep. But I'm already working on the next chapter so don't worry. I'll come back with it in about a week.**


	4. Chapter 4

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

**Peter's POV**

I tossed my empty coffee cup in to a nearby dustbin after tossing it down my throat in one quick gulp. Surprisingly the scalding pain in my throat which I knew should follow my stupid act didn't come. Or it was suppressed as soon as I started feeling any pain. Before I could think more about it, the theater opened and kids started rushing out of the old gothic building. I jogged through the front steps of the building with hopes of catching Lyle before he left with his friend and his family. Just as I reached the tall double doors of the local theater, I could see Lyle's messy blond head coming out next to his chubby best friend. Lyle still had his fake fangs on, his mouth stretched around it like he's wearing a very uncomfortable set of fake teeth.

Lyle's eyes widened ever so slightly when he saw me standing in his way. "Pete, what are you doing here? I'm staying at Adrian's house tonight." His eyes narrowed. "…mom gave me permission, you know."

"Change of plans, Claire's at the hospital. Dad sent me to fetch you."

"Claire! But why?" Is there any end to my little brother's stupidity? I yanked my brother's arm and led him towards the car park.

"Bye kiddo, sorry I had to spoil your day." Adrian nodded his head, raking his fingers through his hair.

"Pete, what's wrong with Claire?" Lyle said trying to catch up with my long stride. He must have been asking that question for a while now. But I didn't hear it as my mind was elsewhere occupied. How could I didn't see this. Maybe it's because Claire had a much bigger sword hanging over her head.

"Urh…a car crash. Claire's okay, she has only a minor concussion. Hard to say the same thing about her boyfriend though, he was in surgery when I left." And Brody pretty much deserved it for what he almost did to my sister. I was already having second thoughts about not telling my parents about what had happened between Claire and Brody last Friday night. Hell, I was having second thoughts about my sister's sanity. What kind of girl would get into a car with the same asshole who tried to rape her only few days back?

Dad was pacing the almost vacant hallway in front of Claire's room. He looked like he'd aged ten years in the past three hours. Mom was nowhere to be seen. May be she's inside the room with Claire or something.

"Dad, can she go home now?" I asked, trying to ignore the nauseous feeling in my stomach. But then, I always had repulsion for hospitals.

"They want to run some more tests." My dad didn't look like he favored the idea as well. I nodded, accepting my defeat.

"Dad, can I go see her?" Lyle asked. Dad stopped his pacing for a second and gave him a "go ahead" with his head.

After Lyle disappeared in to Claire's room, I sat on an ugly looking sickly orange colored hospital chair. Should I tell dad anything about what happened between Claire and her boyfriend or not?

No, I shouldn't betray Claire's trust in me. It's her secret to tell. It's been a long while since she trusted me with such a big secret.

*.*.*.*.*.*

St. Anna Hospital

Odessa, Texas

Claire's POV

I turned my head towards the door when I heard footsteps emerging. I sighed with relief when it turned out to be my dad, not another nurse with another shot. They kept injecting me with pain killers and sedations saying it would help me rest and recover from the concussion. What they didn't know was all the pain I had right now was emotional and directed towards the guilt I was feeling, for totaling Brody's car and almost killing him.

It hurt to look at my father's face. It was darkened with fear and sadness. I thought I saw a glint of rage in his eyes before turned back to close the door behind him. I got the feeling that I'm not going to get away this time without telling him the truth. He yanked a stool from a corner of the room and stood on it next to my ridiculously tall hospital bed.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" He asked as he put his hand on my entangled ones on the bed.

I took a long breath before answering him. "I ran the car into that wall on purpose."

Somehow, he didn't look that much surprised by my revelation. Is it normal for a parent to be neutral about something like this? "You could've killed yourself."

"I wasn't thinking about me."

"What were you thinking about?" Again, anger and frustration was all I could detect in his carefully masked face.

A pregnant silence stretched between us as I argued with my survival instincts about how much I should tell him. When he first entered the room, I'd been so sure about telling my dad about everything. I needed my father's strong arms to enfold me and tell everything would be okay, that he'd take care of everything. But now, I wasn't so sure.

"Claire."

"You should start trusting me." He said in a very convincing tone.

I nodded. Tears start pouring out of my eyes, beating my attempts to stop them. "I lied to you…"

"About what." His voice had a sharp edged when he said that.

"I lied to you when I said….." the rest of the sentence got stuck in my throat.

I turned my face away from him, unable to look at the disappointment those trusting blue eyes. Dad always trusted me to be responsible and do the right thing, more so than my two idiotic brothers. And I'm going to crush his trust, big time today.

I lied to you when I said nothing happened at the bonfire."

"What happened to you?"

"He tried…he tried to force me."

"The Quarterback?" Dad asked with stunned astonishment.

"He threw me down…I hit my head and woke up somewhere else."

"I'm sorry I lied to you I didn't know what else to do." I turned my head back towards him for the first time since I started telling him the truth. "I can't prove anything. He was going to get away with it _again_." I said with emphasis to again. The look of agony and pain I saw in his ex-girlfriend's face was enough to understand the repentance his victims must be going through in their daily life because of Brody. "I'm not the only one." I managed to say in-between my sobs.

I tightened my grip on dad's hand.

"Please you can't say anything. Brody's parents are awfully rich, dad, and I can't prove anything in a court. They'll sue us for trying to tarnish their son's name."

He didn't look like he's fully convinced but he gave me a slight smile. "No one's gonna know a thing." He said with a kiss to my forehead.


	5. Chapter 5

*.*.*.*.*.*

St. Anna Hospital

Odessa, Texas

Claire 'POV

I hope people would stop looking at me like I might disappear in a puff of smoke if they close their eyes for a second. I know my family's worried about me. And they have a more than fair reason to be worried. For all they know I might have died in that car crash with a broken neck. Only if I could tell them their daughter\sister was practically indestructible and they needn't worry.

"Sweetie, can you wait here for a second so I can go get the paperwork done?" Mom asked as we left my hospital room after we collected all my things from the little white hovel I'd been stuck inside for the past two days. Lyle and Peter both tailed behind us talking in a low voice with each other about a comic book edition, 9th Wonders or some stupid name like that.

"Yeah, go ahead, we'll be fine." I answered taking a seat closer to the reception counter in the lobby. Mom gave my shoulder a tender pat, her kind blue eyes welling with tears again. Then she hurried across the crowded hallway towards the elevators.

Peter dropped the duffel bag he was carrying on a green plastic chair next to me with a loud thud. He looked exhausted and had tea bags under his eyes like he hadn't been sleeping at all lately. I felt like a bitch for making them all go through this nightmare.

"Damn, I need a coke. This place is so depressing." Lyle muttered before walking to the nearby raw of vending machines.

I leaned back on the chair covering my eyes with my hands. It's amazing how I could do it still, because not just two days ago bones in my arms were broken in few places. With all the rage and need for revenge I had been feeling for Brody long lone, I felt like an empty shell. I knew very well that all the people Brody liked or even barely tolerated were of the popular status. Sadly they were mostly the people I interacted on daily basis as well. This means, they are going to push me to a very distant corner of the high school social galaxy as soon as the word goes out. I'll be that girl who nearly killed their precious quarterback a week before the final game. God, I'm going to have to find new friends. Maybe that guy who always worships the cafeteria floor with his untouched food tray might agree to be friends with me.

"Why did you do it?" Peter's voice brought me back to reality. He had somehow ended up on the seat next to me and was watching me like I'd just grown a second head. _What, do I have something on my face? _I wanted to ask. But I had more pressing matters to talk about right now. Like what the hell was he talking about? Could he by some weird coincidence found out about what I did? But the police didn't seem to buy Brody's rants about me purposely causing the accident. It looked like they couldn't believe a pretty little doll like BLOND cheerleader like me doing something so horrible without an ounce of alcohol in me. YES, Brody, I gave you a small dose of your own medicine. But you'll be fine and you wouldn't even have a scar to remember this accident in a few years. However unlike you, all those girls you raped would bear the emotional scars you inflicted on them for a very long time, perhaps their whole life.

"WHAT?" Bravo Claire, did the cat got your verbal skills.

"I said why you did it, the accident I mean." He asked again impatiently possibly trying to finish this conversation before Lyle or Mom came back. He had no reason to worry. It seemed our usually clumsy brother was at war with a vending machine. Shaking the box and yelling at it like the machine could understand him.

"I don't know what you are talking about." I said with my best dumb sandy blond pout. He didn't buy it as I feared. My brother with all his catholic choir boy sweetness could be observant as a blood hound when he sniffs some secret.

" I can do _this_!" those were your last words before you crashed the car. Tell me if I'm wrong?"

I stared at him for a while, completely flabbergasted and at a loss of words.

"I—I, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it." Tears started welling in my eyes, covering my vision with a thin layer of mist.

"I'm not blaming you—that asshole pretty much deserved it for what he tried to do to you." He put his hand under my cheek and raised my face to look at him. "I'm just glad you're okay."

I threw my arms around him and we hugged each other for a several minutes. Pete planted a quick kiss on the top of my head and shifted his body away from mine. "I'll get us something to drink."

"I have something to do before we leave Pete." I said getting back to my feet.

He gave me a confused look.

"It'll only take a second, I promise." I didn't wait to see his reply and ran towards the elevators. I knew I'll never forgive myself if I let this guilt consume me and everyone else around me. The only way to prevent it from happening is to go talk with the devil. Maybe this time he'll listen to me and try to become a different person, a better man?

* * *

**Hey guys, sorry for late update.I was busy with some real life stuff. **

**I'm thinking about writing a heroes-twilight crossover. Any ideas?**


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